Dave, I am so glad you have been out on the plains and I agree there is nothing like the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma Panhandle, and western parts of Kansas. Don't you love the extreme lapse rates where storms just explode upwards!
We have been in the Dakotas and chased a couple of violent storms 28th May. We had targetted the area but was a little undecided whether we should be in position for activity further east. Once the ridge set in, we opted for western South Dakota. What was about to unfold was a piece of high plains magic. The first storm was photogenic and reasonably lightning active. The cells that followed were storms from hell. Wind and a deluge of hail pounded the vehicle. Hail sizes were predominantly 3cm with some larger stones in diameter. The winds shook our vehicle during strong gusts. The lightning was constant given that the upper trough was taking effect. The second storm just south of this cell became tornado warned given it's strong rotation. It was interesting to observe the veering winds as we neared this storm. The storm structure gradually became exposed by lightning with less precipitation obscuring our view. Then the wall cloud became clearly viewable. A possible funnel was observed though scud obscured most of the view of the base. Yet another extremely lightning active and well structured storm followed in its path. Given we had all the fun, we gave up trying to chase this storm into the early hours of the morning.
We are heading towards the Oklahoma Panhandle today 29th May.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
